Metric vs imperial: How the law stands

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent

12:18PM BST 25 Oct 2008

Q: Is it illegal to sell fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces?

A: Yes, the transaction must take place in metric weight. The retailer can provide additional prices in imperial measures – what the law calls "supplementary indications" – but these must be displayed in lettering no larger than the metric measures.

Q: Which law banned the use of pounds and ounces?

A: The previous Conservative government introduced laws in 1994 which came into force on January 1, 2000. Known as Statutory Instruments 1994 No 2866 and No 2867, they amended the Weights and Measures Act 1985 so that only the metric system could be used for retail sales, with a few exemptions, such as beer in pints.

Q: Does this law originate from Brussels?

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A: Not according to the European industry commissioner, Gunther Verheugen, who said last year that the British tabloid press had printed incorrect stories about "people having to buy their food from markets in kilograms rather than pounds", adding: "Pounds and ounces are in no way under threat from Brussels and never will be."

Q: Do the UK authorities accept responsibility?

A: Yes, partially. The Trading Standards Institute, a professional body, says that pre-packed goods must be sold in metric weight under an EU directive, but the British government opted to go further by introducing metric-only rules for goods sold loose, such as vegetables, because it would be easier to have one system of measurement rather than two.

Q: How is the Government proposing to change the situation?

Innovation Secretary John Denham wants new guidelines to stop town halls from bringing prosecutions against traders who sell in pounds and ounces. However, campaigners say this may not go far enough because the law will remain unchanged.

Q: What else could the Government do?

A: It could go further by revoking the statutory instruments dating from 1994, effectively restoring the dual imperial and metric system which existed under the Weights and Measures Act prior to 2000.

Q: Are ministers likely to reform these rules?

A: The Government's own National Weights and Measures Laboratory has agreed the legislation as a whole is "incoherent and complicated". But it has not set out plans to address the imperial versus metric issue specifically. A review which is currently taking place could easily be expanded to look at how the imperial system can be reinstated, particularly in the wake of Brussels' insistence that it does not wish to ban pounds and ounces from British shops and stalls.